Teacher’s Pet Turns Ugly

Back in the day I tried to regularly follow (as well as tape) the cartoon show Teacher’s Pet, which used to air on the Disney Channel. So I guess I was a bit of a fan. In 2004 they released a feature film based off the series, simply entitled Teacher’s Pet. I never got to see it, but now and then I would look up the title at web shops to see if I could find it for a low price.

Well, I finally did a few weeks ago, finding it for 5.19 EUR (postage included) through a trade shop on play.com. So I ordered it, and eagerly awaited its arrival, keen to finally get to see it.

But when it arrived yesterday, I was appalled. Here’s what the front of the regular DVD edition of the film is supposed to look like, and how I expected the copy I’d ordered to look like also.

Nothing amazing, but nothing visually offensive either. But here’s what the actual copy I received looked like – both the front and the back.

They’d taken the original cover and given it a yellow blob frame, both shrinking and obscuring the original design. And they’d made the actual DVD cover’s plastic yellow, to boot. This looks ugly and it looks cheap, almost like some sort of bootleg. I’m guessing this is a re-release of the original DVD, and that some marketing buffon decided that they should give the new line of re-released DVDs matching yellow cover designs; I’ve seen at least one other Disney DVD out there with the same design.

I’m tempted to ask for my money back, but given postage and the fluctuating currency I’d most likely end up losing a bit of money. Not to mention the time and energy I’d need to expend in order to make it happen. Plus, I’d still be on the hunt for a cheap copy of this DVD, and I’d probably not feel safe ordering it from other online stores or sellers anymore, worrying that the copy I would receive would be of the ugly re-release with the yellow blob frame, and not the original. But do I really want to put this… thing… among my other DVDs?

A lose-lose situation for me, the consumer, and I now have the following dilemma on my hands: should I crack the plastic and try to be content with the ugly cover, or go through the fuss of trying to get my money back and not getting to see this film?

One Response to Teacher’s Pet Turns Ugly

One thing I’ve never understood: why do Disney have to have their own DVD logo? You will never find the official DVD logo on their cases – it’s always “Disney DVD”, as if it’s some proprietary format that they invented.

(Not to mention the unskippable adverts preceding the main menu. Curse their foul hides!)